Smelting-furnace



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1. F. N. BERGEN.

SMELTING FURNAGE. No. 591,945. Patented Oct. 19,1897.

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SMELTING FURNACE. No. 591,945 5 Patented 0013.19, 1897.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIcE.

FERDINAND NEUMAN BERGEN, OF TACOMA, WASHINGTON.

SMELTINGFFURNACE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 591,945 dated October 19, 1897.

Application filed vember 6, 1896. Serial No. 611,270. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FERDINAND NEUMAN BERGEN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Tacoma, in the county of Pierce and State of Washington, have invented a certain new and useful Heating smelting-Furnace, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in heating-furnaces for heating or smelting all kinds of ores; and the object of my improvement is to provide a furnace that may be worked continuously, and one that shall be of very simple construction and capable of being kept under perfect control.

.It is also my object to provide a furnace which shall be economical in construction and also economical in the amount of fuel which must be used therein to produce the desired results. Y

It consists in certain novel constructions, combinations, and arrangements of parts, all of which will be hereinafter fully described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a horizontal sectional View of my improved furnace, taken upon the line 1 2, Fig. 3. Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the same on the line 3 4:, Fig. 1; Fig. 3, a similar view on the line 5 6, Fig. 1. Fig. 4. is a side elevation of the furnace looking at the side having the feed-door. Fig. 5 is a similar view looking at the side next to the smoke-stack, and Fig. 6 is an end elevation of the said furnace.

By the construction of my furnace I have been able to produce one which is economical, in that cheap oils may be used in it for fuel, which are transformed into gas as soon as lighted, and that only a small quantity of such oil is necessary to smelt the ores as desired.

My furnace is constructed with a central ore or hearth chamber G, having preferably an arched roof and provided with a door H. The door His preferably formed of iron filled with brick on its inner surface, and is adapted to be raised and lowered in a pocket in the furnace-wall when it is desired to introduce ore into the ore-chamber G. The door H is also connected to balancing-weights h h, so that it can be easily manipulated. Upon either side of the ore-chamber G are arranged the air and gas chambers B B also provided with arched roofs. In the walls between said chambers B B and the ore-chamber G are arranged fire holes or apertures 19 b, and just above them air holes or apertures c c. In the end walls of the furnace are openings E E leading into the chambers B B respectively for supplying the same with air. Doors for controlling the admission of air are adapted to cover these openings E E and are connected together by a ropeor wire e passing over the top of the furnace and running on pulleys e e. The length of the connecting wire or rope e is so regulated that when one door is open the other will be closed and vice versa. Flues J J lead from the chambers B B to a point below the ore-chamber, and thence said flues extend beyond the walls of the f urnaces,where they converge into one fine connected to a smoke-stack K. A gate-valve j is pivotally mounted at the point where the fiues J J meet and is adaptedtochange the course of the draft from one flue to the other, said valve j being provided with an exterior operatinghandle for this purpose.

Mounted in the chambers 13 B are fans F and F, respectively, the shafts of these fans being hollow, forming pipes for a purpose hereinafter described. These pipe-shafts extend through the opposite Walls of the furnace in which they are journaled and have pulley-wheels a a upon their ends by which they may be revolved. The oils which are to be used as fuel are fed through pipes a a, through the pipe-shafts to the opposite side of the furnace, through the exterior connectingpipes a into the cross-pipes O O, which are connected by suitable pipes to cross-pipes D D, parallel with 'said' pipes O O. The pipes D D are provided with apertures or openings (Z cl opposite to the fire-holes in the walls between the chambers B B" and the ore-chamber G, so that when the oil is fed through said pipes it will be delivered just opposite the said holes 1) b. The admission of the oil to the burner-pipes D D can be controlled by cook a in the connecting-pipes a 0. By using the fans F F, only one of which is used at a time, I am enabled to readily and quickly change the direction of the currents or drafts in the furnace. In order to be able to use alternately one fan and then the other, the pulleys upon the shafts of said fans are connected by belts with loose pulleys a a upon a common shaft a, which is kept constantly revolving when the furnace is in use. These pulleys a a have their hubs provided with clutches which are adapted to be engaged by corresponding clutches secured to the said shaft a The pulleys a a are adapted to be moved longitudinally upon the shaft a by an arm d having a bifurcated end portion adapted to embrace the two pulleys a a", so that when it is moved one way it will move one pulley into engagement with its corresponding clutch and the other out of engagement, and when moved the other way a reverse action is produced. It will thus be seen that when one fan is used the other is at rest, and vice versa. In order to operate the pulleys alternately automatically, the arm a is connected by another arm a either to suitable clockworks or to a moving part of an engine or some other mechanism. In this manner the fans can be rotated alternately at predetermined intervals.

In using my improved furnace one of the fans is revolved, as F, the door E being opened and the door E being closed. At the same time the oil is admitted by the cook a to the pipes O and D in the chamber B, and the gate-valve j is set so as to admit the draft to the smoke-stack K through the flue J, leading from the chamber B. It will thus be seen that the draft from the fan will force the air and ignited gas through the holes I) b and c 0 into the ore-chamber G, across the same to the chamber B, and out through the flue J to the smoke-stack K. At the end of the predetermined period, say fifteen minutes, the whole operation is just reversed, and so on alternately using first one side and then the other of the furnace. A hole g is provided in the front wall of the furnace for the purpose of removing the slag, while the ore can be run off through the hole g in the rear wall. The hearth is preferably formed of clay. Y

The furnace, it will be observed, is so constructed that the melting of the same is well guarded against in case of severe firing. All the faces of the walls and ceilings are lined with fire-brick, and are further protected by an air-space next to the outside wall-surfaces.

By using oil for fuel fed from the outside into the pipes in the air-chamber they are not liable to melting and these pipes are protected in addition by the air-currents forced in. Also by forcing the flame, with the assistance of air-currents, downward on the ores, the wallsurfaces of the ore-chamber will be better protected. The air-chambers as well as the ore-chamber are easily accessible and the metals as well as the slag can be easily drawn off.

It will be also seen that I have produced a double heating furnace capable of using cheap oils which is of very simple and cheap with a hearth or ore-chamber, of airand gas chambers communicating therewith, burners in said chambers, fans mounted in said cham-' bers, and means for revolving the same, airinlets for each of said chambers and draftflues leading from the chambers, substantially as described.

3. In a heating-furnace the combination with a hearth or ore-chamber, air and gas chambers the walls separating said ore-chainber and said air and gas chambers being provided with fire-holes and air-holes, burners in,

said air-chambers, air-inlets therefor, and means for opening and closing said air-inlets alternately, fans in said air and gas chambers, and means for revolving them alternately for forcing the draft in opposite directions alternately across the ore-chamber, substantially as described.

4. In a heating-furnace the combination of an ore-chamber, air and gas chambers, communicating therewith, air -inlets for said chambers burners in said chambers and fans mounted therein, means for supplying the burners with oil, means for controlling said supply, and means for alternately revolving the fans for changing the draft, substantially as described. I I

5. In a heating-furnace-the combination of an ore-chamber, air and gas chambers communicating therewith, oil burners in said chambers, and fans mounted therein, flues connecting said chambers with a smoke-stack, a valve for directing the draft in said flues and means for revolving the fans alternately, substantially as described.

6. In a heating-furnace the combination of an ore-chamber, air and gas chambers communicating therewith, burners in said chambers, and fans also in said chambers, pulleys upon the shafts of said fans, belts for connecting said pulleys with loose pulleys upon a power-shaft and means for throwing said loose pulleys alternately into operative engagement with said shaft for rotating the fans alternately, substantially as described.

'7. In a heating-furnace the combination of an ore-chamber, air and gas chambers communicating therewith, burners in said chambers and fans also in said chambers, having hollow shafts, an oil-supply for said burners, passin g through said hollow shafts, and means for revolving said fans for changing the draft, substantially as described.

8. In a heating-furnace the combination of an ore-chamber, air and fuelchambers communicating therewith, fans in said air and fuel chambers, pulleys mounted upon the shafts of said fans, belts connecting said pulleys with loose pulleys upon a power-shaft and means for automatically bringing the said loose pulleys into operative engagement With said shaft, at regular periods for revolving the fans, alternately, substantially as described.

9. In a heating-furnace the combination of 

